Google-owner Alphabet has revealed the ‘fifth-generation’ model of its driverless car tech developed by specialist unit Waymo – and it can see around corners. The most recent advances in the driverless operating system being developed by Waymo allow vehicles fitted out with it to “see around blind spots and pinpoint a pedestrian opening a car door from several streets away”.
Waymo has been testing its driverless vehicles technology stack on the roads of California and Arizona for a decade now and are inching closer to a system that will one day, perhaps soon, gain regulatory approval to take to the roads outside of a test environment. The fifth-generation model of the tech has been “engineered to tackle an even more diverse range of complex driving environments with unparalleled capabilities”, says Satish Jeyachandran, Waymo’s head of hardware.
Examples of these ‘complex driving environments’ were given by Mr Jeyachandran as “the biker weaving and speeding through traffic on a foggy morning, to the family pet rushing into the street to greet you at night”.
The latest iteration of Waymo’s driverless tech stack includes a total of 29 integrated cameras able to spot road signs, pedestrians and other important elements to the driving environment from more than half a kilometre’s distance. The cameras are designed to maintain a steady temperature regardless of weather conditions, keeping them reliable in different driving environments.
The distance and size of objects up to 300 metres away is relayed to the car’s algorithms from a 360-degree lidar (light detection and ranging) system. That’s comprised of sensors on the vehicles roof and sides that pulse out infrared light to build a detailed 3D map of the surrounding area.
That’s complimented by a radar imaging system that detects the direction and speed of moving objects. The combination of the cameras, lidar and radar imaging tech is what means a 5th Gen Waymo vehicle can be aware of “the opening of a car door a city block away”.
A new ‘peripheral vision system’ means vehicles fitted out with the latest operating system technology can detect potential hazards such as a poorly parked car around blind spots. The new lidar system has also been tested on self-driving lorries that Waymo is also designing and allowed them to ‘see’ debris on the road several hundred metres ahead, giving plenty of time for the vehicles to either change lanes or, if necessary, stop.
Waymo only develops the tech stack and operating system for driverless vehicles and not the cars or lorries themselves. The new fifth-generation driverless vehicles have Waymo’s tech integrated into Jaguar’s electric I-Pace SUV models. A partnership agreement has been struck between the two companies for 20,000 I-Pace cars.
They will be used in further road testing as well as Waymo’s autonomous taxi service, which already operates in a test zone in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. The service has been running since 2017 and more recently some journeys have been completed without the presence of a safety driver. Remote employees do still watch video live streamed from driverless vehicles’ cameras and can intervene if they spot a potential risk. The taxis are only currently permitted to operate in a zone of about 50 square miles.
In recent months companies in the autonomous vehicles space such as Waymo itself, Uber, Cruise, Tesla, Honda, GM and Ford, have been dialling back expectations around when fully autonomous vehicles with no safety driver or potential for 3rd party intervention might take to the roads outside of a test environment.
While most are convinced the technology itself is nearing the point where it will be fully reliable, regulatory hurdles could well mean mainstreaming of driverless vehicles is still a decade away.